Open AccessNaturally Occurring Variability in Anesthetic Potency Among Inbred Mouse Strains
Author(s) -
James M. Sonner,
Diane Gong,
Edmond I. Eger
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
anesthesia and analgesia/anesthesia and analgesia
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.404
H-Index - 201
eISSN - 1526-7598
pISSN - 0003-2999
DOI - 10.1097/00000539-200009000-00042
Subject(s) - desflurane , isoflurane , anesthetic , halothane , potency , medicine , minimum alveolar concentration , anesthesia , general anesthetics , pharmacology , biology , in vitro , genetics
We measured the naturally occurring variability in anesthetic potency, defined by the minimum alveolar anesthetic concentrations (MACs) of inhaled anesthetics required to produce immobility in response to noxious stimuli, in seven widely used laboratory mouse strains. To these data, we added similar data for eight other mouse strains. The average MAC values for each anesthetic for the 15 strains were normally distributed, with a coefficient of variation (ratio of SD to mean) of 0.1. The range of MAC values was 39% for desflurane, 44% for isoflurane, and 55% for halothane. MAC values were highly reliable, with approximately 1% of the variance in MAC measurements for the strains being explained by measurement error. One hundred forty-six statistically significant differences among the 15 strains were found for the three inhaled anesthetics (isoflurane, desflurane, and halothane). Our results suggest that multiple genes underlie the observed variability in anesthetic potency.